Just as Megumi was about to use Max Elephant to put out the fire and then have Mahoraga smash that giant skeleton, Dagon's Domain Expansion appeared on the battlefield.
"Is that Maki-senpai?"
Megumi looked at the two colossal figures not far away, feeling that Maki's situation was more uncertain than Kokichi's.
Megumi canceled the summoning of Max Elephant, then called out Piercing Ox to ram into the Domain's outer shell.
Inside the Domain, Maki found herself on a beach.
"So that's it. No wonder Eichi said your Domain is suitable for a vacation. The scenery really is beautiful."
Dagon nodded at the remark.
Mahito, Hanami, and Jogo used to enjoy resting in his Domain as well.
Thinking of this, Dagon's eyes darkened.
Because he knew that Mahito had already been captured.
After receiving this news, Dagon made up his mind that he had to work hard to become stronger and rescue Mahito.
It was a pity he did not encounter Suguru this time.
"Die here, Jujutsu Sorcerer. Death Swarm!"
Sharks, eels, hairtail fish, countless fish-shaped shikigami leaped from the ocean, then swam toward Maki at extreme speed through the air.
After expanding his Domain, Dagon immediately confirmed one fact.
The woman in front of him indeed had no Cursed Energy at all and could not be targeted by the Domain.
This information had been provided by Kenjaku during the pre-battle meeting.
Kenjaku had only confirmed the information about Maki last year.
Before that, Kenjaku had always thought Maki was just an ordinary Heavenly Restriction.
And because of the twins, the Heavenly Restriction was incomplete.
It was not until last year, when the Special Grade Cursed Spirit he used for experiments was exorcised, that Kenjaku learned of Maki's completely zero Cursed Energy characteristic.
But even so, Dagon still expanded his Domain.
Because even if the sure-hit effect of the Domain was lost, its enhancement of Cursed Techniques was still immense.
More importantly, it restricted Maki's movements, and there were not as many annoying trees here.
Countless shikigami attacked Maki from all directions.
Maki, wielding a greatsword, cut down one shikigami after another.
Soon, Maki broke through the encirclement of shikigami and charged toward Dagon, treading across the waves.
"Don't even think about it."
Knowing that he was no match for Maki in close combat, Dagon immediately pushed out with both hands. The originally calm sea surface churned up huge waves, which then crashed down on Maki.
As the giant wave was about to reach her, Maki gripped her sword with both hands and split the giant wave apart with a powerful strike.
Behind the giant wave appeared two enormous giant isopods.
"Hah!"
Maki somersaulted in the air with the momentum from her previous strike, then kicked fiercely at the giant isopod shikigami.
"She's in the air. An opportunity."
Dagon spread his hands, and countless piranha shikigami appeared, biting at Maki.
Maki swung her sword with both hands, creating afterimages, and countless piranhas were shredded into minced meat as if they had rushed into a meat grinder.
For a moment, the scene was somewhat similar to Tokito Muichiro from next door, who used Mist Breathing, Sixth Form: Lunar Dispersing Mist, to slice up Gyokko's ten thousand gliding fish.
Maki quickly charged in front of Dagon, leaving countless shikigami remains in her wake.
Seeing Maki with a look of frenzied battle intent, a hint of fear rose in Dagon's heart.
'Are Hanami and the others usually fighting such terrifying enemies?'
Unconsciously, Dagon took a step back.
"Hanami and the others are still fighting. How can I retreat here!"
Dagon let out a roar, and several shelled shikigami wrapped around his right hand, meeting Maki's greatsword.
Clang!
Slash.
The shells quickly split open upon contact with the greatsword, and Maki pressed down hard with the greatsword, intending to cut Dagon in half.
"Take this!"
Dagon grabbed the greatsword with his other hand, trying to slow down the speed at which the greatsword was cutting into him, and his abdomen suddenly bulged.
An eel shikigami suddenly darted out from his abdomen, biting at Maki's face.
Maki could only withdraw her sword to defend.
Because one of Dagon's hands was pushing the sword outward, Maki's defense was very smooth.
The eel shikigami bit the greatsword, then transformed into several water snakes.
Maki twisted the handle of the Thousand Machine Umbrella, switching it to its spear form.
The thinned Thousand Machine Umbrella successfully escaped the entanglement of the water snakes.
Maki used her right hand to thrust the Thousand Machine Umbrella in its war spear form toward Dagon, while her left hand skillfully detached three umbrella ribs and held them between her fingers, making her left hand resemble Wolverine's claws.
The two sides began a brutal close-quarters struggle.
Slash, slash, slash.
The war spear caused wounds to bloom across Dagon's body, and the claws also shredded all the shikigami Dagon summoned.
On the other side, Dagon's attacks had difficulty hitting Maki.
The gap in their close-combat abilities was significant.
Slash, slash.
Dagon furiously swung his fists, wanting to defeat the enemy in front of him.
'I cannot fall here. Mahito is still waiting for me to rescue him!'
Slash.
Another wound bloomed on Dagon's body.
"Jogo and Hanami are still waiting for me. I absolutely cannot fall here."
Dagon's eyes widened in fury, and all his power was pushed to its maximum.
"Ah ah ah ah ah, take this!"
Countless fist shadows enveloped the woman in front of him, who was slipperier than a loach.
Maki's movements slowed, and she quickly switched from offense to defense.
Dagon's heart was invigorated, and he increased his strength again.
However, even though Maki was suppressed, there was no panic on her face.
She realized that this Cursed Spirit had started fighting with its life on the line, and this state of all-out eruption would inevitably not last long.
Soon, this Cursed Spirit would be exhausted.
This principle was a martial arts experience deeply understood by every Tokyo Jujutsu High student.
As for the reason... one could only say that every first-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High had once thought of beating Satoru to death, only to find they could not hit him at all.
Everyone had the experience of being dog-tired and lying on the ground after a fierce attack, only for Satoru to take photos and post them in the group to show off.
Maki was an exception. She chased Satoru and fought him all day, and then... when Satoru saw that he could not take photos, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep.
At that time, Maki was so angry that she wanted to get the Inverted Spear of Heaven from Toji and make a few transparent holes in Satoru.
Slash.
The change in the battle was within Maki's expectations. She quickly seized the moment when Dagon's old strength was exhausted and new strength had not yet emerged, severely wounding Dagon with a single sword strike.
Just as Maki was about to completely exorcise Dagon, the sound of glass shattering rang out.
Crack.
"Moo!"
After a long-distance accelerated run-up, Piercing Ox smashed through the outer shell of Dagon's Domain.
Dagon's Domain shattered.
"Are you okay, Maki-senpai?"
Megumi immediately rushed into the dissipating Domain.
"You're so slow, Megumi."
Maki rested the war spear on her shoulder.
"You're here just in time. How about putting this in your shadow space?"
"Are you asking me to fight while carrying it?"
The weight of items placed in the shadow space would press down on the user, and Eichi, who was already used to this, treated it as full-body weight training.
However, it was clear that Megumi did not like this.
"Then should we just kill it?"
Maki raised the war spear again.
"No need. I'll just watch."
Megumi guessed Maki's thoughts. She intended to keep this Cursed Spirit and give it to Suguru.
Although she was not very familiar with Suguru, Maki knew that Eichi and Satoru would beat good Cursed Spirits to the brink of death and send them to him.
(To be continued.)